1945 VFL Grand Final

Carlton	South Melbourne
15.13 (103)	10.15 (75)

	1	2	3	4
CAR	2.4 (16)	7.5 (47)	12.9 (81)	15.13 (103)
STH. M	0.5 (5)	6.9 (45)	8.10 (58)	10.15 (75)

Date

29 September 1945

Stadium

Melbourne Cricket Ground

← 1944

VFL Grand Final

1946 →

The 1945 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the South Melbourne Football Club and Carlton Football Club, held at Princes Park in Melbourne on 29 September 1945. It was the 49th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1945 VFL season. The match, attended by 62,986 spectators, was won by Carlton by a margin of 28 points, marking that club's seventh premiership victory. The game is well remembered for its extremely rough and violent nature, and has commonly been referred to as The Bloodbath.

Venue

Played only shortly after the conclusion of the second World War, the Melbourne Cricket Ground was unavailable for use, prompting the game to be played at Princes Park. The crowd of 62,986 is a record for Princes Park, and is almost double its current nominal capacity.

Win from fourth place

Carlton held a two-point lead at half time, and won the match 15.13 (103) to South Melbourne's 10.15 (75).

Carlton's 1945 premiership win was the first time since the "Page-McIntyre system" had been adopted in 1931 that a team from fourth place on the home-and-away ladder (i.e., a team that had no "double chance") had won the Grand Final.

South Melbourne would not contest another Grand Final until the 1996 AFL Grand Final, by which time the club was known as the Sydney Swans.

The "Bloodbath"

The game, played in extremely wet, muddy conditions, is remembered as "the Bloodbath" for its overall continuous violence (on the field and amongst the fans), and its plethora of crude king hits and brawls (many of which were broken up with the assistance of team officials and the police). The Melbourne tabloid newspaper The Truth called it "the most repugnant spectacle League football has ever known", with ten players reported for a total of sixteen offences.^[1]

Tribunal outcomes

South Melbourne

Ted Whitfield was charged with using abusive language to goal umpire Les Whyte, attempting to strike field umpire Frank Spokes, kicking the ball away after a free kick was given against him, and attempting to conceal his guernsey so goal umpire Les Whyte could not report him. He was suspended for 21 matches (all of 1946 and the first two games of 1947).
Jack "Basher" Williams was charged with using abusive language to Carlton's Rod McLean and goal umpire Les Whyte, and adopting a fighting attitude to Whyte when he went to report him. Suspended for 12 matches.
Don Grossman was charged with striking Jim Mooring after Mooring had been awarded a mark. Suspended for 8 matches.
"Gentleman" Jim Cleary was charged with striking Ken Hands (Carlton) after a mark, and attempting to strike Bob Chitty. He was found not guilty on attempted striking charge, but suspended for 8 matches on the striking charge.
Herbie Matthews was charged with throwing the ball away after a mark was given against him, and was severely reprimanded.
Keith Smith was charged with striking Jim Mooring, but was found not guilty.

Carlton

Bob Chitty was charged with elbowing Billy Williams. He was suspended for 8 matches.
Ron Savage was charged with striking Don Grossman in retaliation for Grossman having king-hit teammate Jim Mooring, which sparked a final-quarter brawl. Suspended for 8 matches.
Fred Fitzgibbon was charged with one count of melee involvement; despite serving a four-match suspension from the preliminary final for having king-hit Collingwood forward Len Hustler, he ran onto the field during a final-quarter brawl and fought with Ted Whitfield before being ejected from the arena. Suspended for an additional four matches.
Ken Hands was charged with charging Ron Clegg, but was found not guilty.

Teams

Carlton
B:	Arthur Sanger	Vin Brown	Jim Baird
HB:	Bob Chitty (c)	Bert Deacon	Jim Clark
C:	Doug Williams	Clinton Wines	Herb Turner
HF:	Alec Way	Ken Hands	Lance Collins
F:	Rod McLean	Ken Baxter	Jim Mooring
Foll:	Ron Savage	Jack Bennett	Mick Price
Reserve(s):	Charlie McInnes
Coach:	Percy Bentley

South Melbourne
B:	Brian Kelly	Jim Cleary	Don Grossman
HB:	Bob Matlock	Jack Williams	Jack Danckert
C:	Ted Whitfield	Herbie Matthews (c)	Billy King
HF:	Vic Castles	Ron Clegg	Keith Smith
F:	Alan Linden	Laurie Nash	Bill Williams
Foll:	Jack Graham	Jack Dempsey	Reg Richards
Reserve(s):	Ron Hartridge
Coach:	Bill Adams

Statistics

Team	1	2	3	Final
Carlton	2.4	7.5	12.9	15.13 (103)
South Melbourne	0.5	6.9	8.10	10.15 (75)

Goalkickers

Carlton:

K Hands 3
M Price 3
K Baxter 2
J Mooring 2
J Bennett 1
B Chitty 1
R McLean 1
R Savage 1
C Wines 1

South Melbourne:

V Castles 3
A Linden 2
L Nash 2
K Smith 2
R Richards 1

References

↑ Gibson, Jane (2 September 2006). "Day the Blood-Stained Angels were born", The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 14 July 2012.

External links

Victorian/Australian Football League Grand Finals

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Carlton Football Club 1945 VFL premiers

Carlton 15.13 (103) defeated South Melbourne 10.15 (75), at Princes Park

1. Hands 3. Bennett 4. Way 5. Collins 6. Chitty (c) 7. Turner 10. Wines 12. Williams 14. McLean 15. Brown 16. Mooring 18. Sanger 21. Baxter 23. Deacon 24. Savage 25. Baird 26. Clark 30. Price 31. McInnes

Coach: Bentley

Carlton Football Club

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